3 14 PERCHING BIRDS. 



breeding-season the nutcracker becomes shy and cautious, so that its whereabouts 

 is no longer easy to ascertain. The difficulty of discovering the vicinity of its nest 

 is enhanced by the nutcracker being one of the very earliest birds to nest, and 

 consequently the forests in which it breeds, usually vast extents of pine trees, often 

 at an elevation of several thousand feet above sea level, are covered with deep 

 snow at the time when the eggs have to be sought. These are usually laid in the 

 month of March, and are pale bluish white, in ground-colour, thickly spotted with 

 olive-brown. The young are easily reared by hand if supplied with a sufficient 

 variety of food, and exhibit a marked predilection for insects. Mr. Howard 

 Saunders gives the following description of the habits of the nutcracker, as 

 observed in the Prattigau : — "Between September 14th and 18th this species was 

 quite common among the hazel bushes, and the top of a low wall, within five 

 minutes' walk above the village where I was staying, was a favourite anvil on 

 which to hammer the nuts, their shells lying thick on it. Every few minutes a 

 bird might be seen flitting along the hillsides — its widely-spread tail-feathers dis- 

 playing the white spots on their tips — with a somewhat dipping flight, less laboured 

 than that of the jay. Often alighting on a sloping patch of sward, the nutcracker 

 would draw itself up till its neck seemed unnaturally elongated, then give a few 

 skips, and, taking a short flight, make a furious attack on a bush, tearing off a whole 

 cluster of nuts. This was sometimes rejected, after a comically critical examination, 

 and another cluster would be torn off, after which the bird would fly up to some 

 tolerably wide branch of a fir, and hammer the nuts energetically to free them from 

 their shucks, pausing to look up as if for admiration. Then the bird would hop 

 rapidly up the branches — as if on the rungs of a ladder — to the top of the tree, 

 dash away across a ravine, settle on a bush, and be lost to view for a time, return- 

 ing with its crop quite distended with nuts." One of the notes is a peculiar gv,rre, 

 gurre; but there is another, like a sprung rattle. Hancock records the fact that a 

 nutcracker which lived in his possession for six years had a sweet, low, delicate, 

 warbling song ; this was uttered only when everything was perfectly quiet. 



Characterised by their stout and compressed beaks, which are 

 Magpies. J . , 



sharp at the edges and arched towards the tip, short and rounded 



wings, strong feet, and long, graduated tails, the magpies have typically a black- 

 and-white plumage, although many of their Oriental representatives are gorgeously 

 coloured. The common magpie {Pica rustica) is found throughout the more northern 

 portions of the Old World, from Britain to Northern China, and likewise occurs in 

 the western districts of the United States. On the other hand, the Moorish magpie 

 (P. mauritanica) is peculiar to North-Western Africa, although certain Spanish 

 specimens tend to bridge over the distinctions of colour distinguishing the typical 

 representatives of the two forms. Familiar enough in many parts of the British 

 Islands, magpies in the north of Europe may be seen hunting for insects on the 

 roofs of cottages ; but elsewmere they lead a wandering life, feeding on carrion, 

 small birds, and such other animal food as they can obtain. Breeding in a variety 

 of situations — frequently in a tall poplar, but at other times in a low bush or 

 hedge — they construct a domed nest of dry branches, securely protected by 

 projecting thorns. Even in China, where they nest in February, their choice of a 

 situation of a site for building is quite as varied as in Europe, Swinhoe stating 



